Bible Studies

Part Five

In Luke 14: 26, Jesus was speaking about discipleship, and not the loss of salvation (Rom. 8: 1). 

Not embracing or later abandoning discipleship results in the loss of rewards and privileges that he or she would have otherwise received in Heaven, had he or she identified and executed the type of post salvation spiritual life that God had in mind. 

These rewards and privileges are reserved in Heaven for advancing disciples, but the salvation of all born-again believers is never in jeopardy. 

Salvation is an unearned, undeserved, irrevocable gift from God that He bestows on all who believe when they are presented with the unadulterated Gospel Message.

Satan does not waste munitions. There is no need for him to drop bombs and disturb anyone who he already has where he wants them to be, that is, anywhere other than on the spiritual battlefield. The details of life places us where we find ourselves, but rather or not we choose to engage in the spiritual combat taking place all around us, wherever we are, is a daily and ongoing choice we make.

Advancing disciples do NOT serve God to be rewarded. Serving God is an expression of the love that he or she has for God (John 14: 15), and considers whatever adversity he or she has to face or to endure for the sake of Christ, to be an honor (Acts 5: 41).

This adversity is not to be confused with the self-induced misery that we bring upon ourselves as a result of the negative choices we make.

For an advancing disciple, “…to live is (for) Christ, and to die is gain (Phil.1: 21 NASB2020 parenthesis mine).”  

When the time comes for the earthly departure of a soldier of the cross, he or she will want to be found engaged on the spiritual battlefield when the Lord calls him or her home.  

One’s personal battlefield is wherever life takes him or her on any given day, or stage of life. 

Satan knows the value and the impact that one’s departing words can have on others.

Some will pass on without the opportunity or the ability to make a departing statement. 

Secular statistics tell us that 150,000 souls depart this world every twenty-four hours. 

Experience tells us that many will do so, with their departure being the last thing that was on their minds, or on the minds of others who knew them, when they went to bed last night, or when they got up for what was to be their last day, here on Earth.

One’s departure may have nothing to do with his age, wealth, or health, or chosen activities.

For others, as in the case of Peter (John 21: 18), their final battlefield could be in a place or circumstances that one would not want to be. It might be on a sick bed at home, in a nursing home, hospice, or health care facility. In many cases, one’s greatest testimony (to others) will take place during his or her final days or hours before departing this world.

For some, the process of dying could involve years with diminished mental capacity and bodily functions. One might ask what possible good can come out of such an situation.  

Consider that it could be that God uses such a situation to teach others that their own destiny could be the same, and the need to do all that God would have them do, while they still have the mental and physical abilities to do so.  

For many who have a “bucket list,” it usually consists of a self-centered list of activities that the world might have to offer. For an advancing disciple, the list is Christ-centered, based on what He wants him or her to accomplish before He calls them home.

I believe that individuals pass with the same frame of mind in which they spent most of their lives. 

There are death-bed conversions, securing eternal life and the assurance of a future with God (Rom.8: 1/Luke 23: 43), but nowhere in Scripture does it guarantee that an unsaved, Hell-bound soul, will have a death-bed opportunity.  

No one knows when he or she has had his or her last opportunity to hear and to respond to the unadulterated Gospel Message, and be born-again. If you hear the inaudible voice of God reaching out to you today, then today should be YOUR day of salvation. 

Everyone IS actually guaranteed tomorrow, but not that one’s tomorrow will necessarily be experienced here on Earth! Life after death is NOT a question of if, but a matter of where and how it WILL be experienced.

One of the reasons that artillery barrages are so loud in conventional warfare, is that they are intended to create fear and keep one’s attention on the here and now, rather on what will be when the smoke clears. This same principle applies to combat in the spiritual realm.

Some will pass away with the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4: 7), having learned the truth (John 8: 32) that sets one free from worry and regrets, whereas others will pass away harboring the same fear of death, uncertainty, insecurity, malcontent, and bitterness that haunted or dominated them for most or all of their earthly lives (Heb. 2: 15).

End of Part Five